The Nigeria judiciary came under heavy attack Wednesday when it was described as the root of corruption in the country. Chairman, All Progressives Congress (APC) in Enugu State, Dr. Ben Nwoye, who made the allegation yesterday at the “Democracy Arena” organized by the Nigeria Union of Journalists Enugu State Council, said the much talked about anti-corruption fight could only be actualized if the nation’s judiciary is reformed and completely transformed. Nwoye, an American trained Doctorate degree holder in Law, said the cleansing of the judicial system must begin right from the Supreme Court, where he alleged that a good number of the judges receive bribe rather than deliver sound judgment as it should be done. “Shame on the judiciary,” he said repeatedly. But he was quick to add: “It’s not all the judges that are taking bribe but a good number of them are taking bribe.” He re-emphasised that the nation’s “judiciary must be cleansed” to set the country free from the chains of corruption. “Judiciary is the root of corruption in Nigeria. All the corruption is done by lawyers and judges. The judiciary must be reformed for Nigeria to win the war against corruption. We must change the judicial system in this country,” declared Dr. Nwoye. He quickly added: “When you disgrace one or more judges, the rest of them will learn their lessons. Judiciary is where the corruption starts.” Nwoye, who is also the APC Senatorial candidate for Enugu East Senatorial zone in the forthcoming election declared that, if elected into the senate, he would move a bill to put the judiciary officials on their toes, knowing very well that there would be phony cases in court. “We will move money around to look for those that are taking bribe but remember that not all the judges are taking bribe. But too many of them are taking bribe. And that is why we do not have a good anti-corruption agency in the country. It’s not because the anti-graft commissions are not working,” he re-stated. He wondered the wisdom in having a former governor who still have pending cases of corruption in court being prosecuted by the anti-graft commission, now running for a senatorial seat. “Nobody is talking about it,” he remarked angrily. He regretted that since over ten years now, the ex-governor has been battling with alleged massive financial corruption cases in court without anybody knowing when the court will pass judgment. The angry Nwoye further said: “The case came up in court shortly after the man served out his second tenure and up till now it is still lingering in court for over ten years. So, shame on the judiciary. They put up issues. If the man is free, then set him free, acquit him. If he is guilty, convict him and send him to jail. But now he is campaigning and nobody is asking question and INEC is not doing anything. We are all ignoring it and yet we want to build a better society. We cannot build a better society maintaining willful blindness and willful deafness. We must speak out the truth. Yes, the former governor is innocent until proven guilty but why don’t we talk about those charges that are pending?
